Apple Wins Over $1 Billion in Patent Trial Against Samsung

After many weeks of testimony and countless looks behind the iron curtain, the jury overseeing technology’s biggest ever lawsuit reached a verdict on Friday. The enormously complex case, according to The Verge, needed “some 700 individual decisions” to align in order for the jury to reach a final answer. All it took was three days of deliberations.

The case basically boiled down to a mind numbing assemblage of both hardware and software design patents. Did Samsung, once the iPhone was released in 2007, copy Apple? Plain and simple, yes. The jury decided that Samsung willfully infringed upon Apple’s patents. That’s huge.

While it wasn’t an all-out landslide victory for Apple, the jury largely deliberated in the Cupertino company’s favor. And that, according to the verdict, amounts to over $1 billion in damages. Apple’s enormous bank account, on the other hand, isn’t losing a cent — add that to the fact that the company wasn’t found guilty for infringing any Samsung patents.

The decisions could mean a lot of things for the industry, and it’s unclear at the moment how this will affect the design and approach from competing OEMs. Maybe looking more toward Mother Earth for inspiration? The repercussions could be far reaching. Samsung can’t be happy right now. We’re still digesting the information, and if anything else develops, we’ll be sure to keep you posted. Happy Friday, Samsung.